Tuesday, 28 April 2015

This week was a big change! I was transfered from Curacautín to San Pedro in a sector called the Marinas. It´s very different from the sleepy little counrty town I just came from. There´s a lot more hustle and bustle. Also, it´s probably the most flaite (gangster) town where the Hermanas are allowed to work. We´re a lot closer the the mission office too which means that we don´t have to wait a month to receive our letters for a month after they arrive! (Yay!) The people here are a lot more joven (younger) too.

My new companion, Hermana Alverado, is from Peru. She´s helping me with my Spanish which I´m super stoked about because I want to speak with a Peruvian accent! We´ll see if I can reach this goal. She´s also going to teach me how to cook food from her country!!! She gets a big kick out of all the cat-calling that goes on when we`re walking down the street. ¨Gringa linda. (cute Gringa -"Gringa" is a word they use to describe foreigners), Gringa rica (rich Gringa), Yo quiero casarme contigo. (I want to marry you) "RUBIA VEN AQUI!¨ (Blondie, come over here!)

I´m really excited to work with the barrio (neighbourhood) here. We had a meeting with the bishop and the ward mission leader the first day I got here. The bishop gave me a talk within the first five minutes of that meeting! The topic: How to make goals. I think it was inspired because even though I´ve been out in the mission field for 5 months, I don´t like to work with numbers. I've learned that todavía (yet/although) I´m not very confident with the Spanish, the talk went pretty well... I think. I don´t know if they understood it all, but hey, I figured that if I try my best, God will help me with the rest.

So I don´t have any photos... again (Sorry!) Something happened to my SD card and it erased all of what I had from this week. I´ll take lots of selfies with my compañera (companion), with the members and the city around us this coming week.

I found this quote in PME (Preach My Gospel - missionary manual used to study and teach from) that I´d like to share.

(TRANSLATION - “True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work”)

There is a lot of council from the Presidents of the church about being a member missionary. We promised at baptism to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and follow in His example. This includes sharing the gospel with the people around us. One of my metas (goals) when I get back is to be a better ward missionary. I feel bad for not putting in a better effort before, because now I know how important it is to have members involved in missionary work. There is 100X more success in lessons when there is a member present.

Que tegan una buena semana! (Have a great week!)

Les quiero! (Love you lots!)

Hermana Jakob

(Mom's Note: No pictures from Hermana Jakob means mom raids from at-home stock! A blog NEEDS pictures...she's been warned! :D ....this was taken last summer at a family reunion. Grace did the face paint. Figured this went well with the "cat-calling". LOL!)

Monday, 20 April 2015

Perdón que no escribí la semana pasada. (Sorry that I did not write last week.) No tuve mucho tiempo. (I didn't have much time.)

This week was really busy! We had a conferencia (conference) en Los Ángeles on Saturday because Elder Oaks came to talk to the missionaries of Chile! He was in Santiago and we watched it over transmission. It was really cool because we could see some the congregations of other missionaries from Orsono, Concepción and Antofagasta. Elder Oaks talked a lot about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and how as missionaries, we need to teach people from the basics. The people here have a religious background but we can´t assume that they know how to pray or know the true nature of the Atonement.

Today we received out cambios! (transfers!) I´m leaving for San Pedro, Los Marinas!!! It´s going to be quite the change! I´m in a little, quite town right now and San Pedro is a bustling metropolis with micros y colectivos (types of buses) and lots of people! From what Hermana Crandall told me, Los Marinas are a little bit getto but I like the run-down houses màs que los ricos (better than the rich ones). I´m excited for the change but at the same time sad because we were finally getting plans in order with the branch. Nevertheless, I´ll accept the will of God and trust that He knows best. My future compañera se llama (companion's name is) Hermana Alverado and I think she´s from Peru. I hope she can teach me how to cook a few recipes from Peru!

Monday, 6 April 2015

Yeah, the north is completely flooded and has been for a while now. Houses and cities have been completely swept away! I pray every day that the people here can be protected. The forest fires here in the south have been really bad. All the forests around Curacautín have gone up in flames. It´s a shame because there are really old trees called Araucaria here that take hundreds of years to mature and they´re all burning. Right now the fires are a little better because we received a little bit of rain. It´s interesting. The climate completely switched around. We´re having a drought in the south and floods in the north! Don´t freak out, but I heard from one of the members here that scientists are predicting a earthquake around Concepción at some point. I´m sure it´s nothing though. It´s hard to predict the intensity of an earthquake before it happens... and there are lots in Chile!

Today (Monday) we had our zone activity! Asado (BBQ) Chilean style! The BBQ is pretty much an oil drum with charcoal inside and a grill on top. We had steak and sausage today but normally Chilenos cook a whole lamb on a spit over the coals. It was really good! While we ate, we watched the "Saratov Approach". It's a movie about the kidnapping of 2 elders in Russia. It was really intense! Mom, Grandma...don´t watch it!

This week was a week of prayer. My testimony in the power of prayer really grew. We prayed that we could find people that would bless la Rama aquí (branch here). Specifically we were thinking of future Sacerdocio (priesthood) holders. Immediately after, we knocked on the door of a super bueno hombre se llama Louis (super good man named Louis). After that, encontramos con 3 otros hombres! (we met with/found 3 other men!) All of them have great potential and a desire to learn more!

Another time, we prayed that God would lead us to someone who needed the help of our Saviour in their lives. We walked down the street and knocked on the door of a future investigator se llama (named) Carla. Her family opened the door with tears in their eyes and told us that their father was dying and they couldn´t travel to Concepción to say good-bye. We offered a prayer for them and shared words of comfort. After this, they said that they knew that we were sent of God to help them and that the last time Mormon missionaries knocked on their door was when their son was gravely ill and they couldn´t find a cure for him. It´s cool to see how the Lord guides our actions day to day to bless his children!

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!! Unfotunately, I don´t have much more time to write about my thoughts on the talks that were given but, if you didn´t have the opportunity to watch it, I suggest you put aside some time and watch a talk a day. I know that God truly inspires the leaders of the church with the words we need to hear to cope with our modern-day world.

(Want to watch a session or talk from General April 2015 General Conference? Click here.)